Reliance Jio accuses Airtel & Vodafone-Idea of using farmer stir for MNP gains; moves TRAI

Days after a few farmer leaders said they would boycott establishments owned by Adani and Ambani which also included a call to boycott Jio SIM card, Reliance Jio has written to the Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI).

In its letter to Secretary, TRAI, the telecom operator has sought strict action against Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea for "unethical practices" and "unscrupulous violations" and to stop campaigns under which "false propaganda is being spread across the country to get some additional MNP port-ins" by "capitalising on the ongoing farmer protest in the northern parts of the country".

'They are inciting the public': Reliance Jio

Reliance Jio said its letter was in furtherance of its letter of September 28, 2020 "highlighting the unethical and anti-competitive MNP (mobile number portability) campaign being run by Airtel and VIL to capitalise on the ongoing farmer protests in northern parts of the country".

"We submit that despite the above submissions, these companies continue to remain directly/indirectly involved in supporting and furthering the insinuations and false and frivolous rumours of Reliance being an undue beneficiary of the farm laws, for unethical pecuniary benefits in the form of induced porting of RJIL customers," the letter said. It said that Airtel and VIL "remain unabated in pursuing this vicious and divisive campaign through its employees, agents and retailers".

"They are inciting the public by making preposterous claims that migrating Jio mobile numbers to their networks would be an act of support to farmers' protests," said the letter written on December 10. According to ANI,  the letter was accompanied by pictures of "misleading and inciteful campaign" across Punjab and other northern states. "We reiterate that in order to reap meagre gains in port-in numbers, these service providers are intentionally defacing RJIL by depicting it as being against farmers and projecting themselves as farmer-friendly, while at the same time intentionally fanning the anti-government protests."

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Airtel & Vodafone Idea refute Jio's claims

In response to Jio's claims, both Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have termed the complaint as "baseless" and refuted the charges. Bharti Airtel in a letter to Trai said, "We wish to emphatically deny this baseless charge...Despite being provoked by some competitors who we know will go to any length to make baseless allegations, adopt bullying tactics and use intimidatory behaviour. We have always conducted our business with character and transparency something that we are deeply proud of and known for."

Vodafone Idea spokesperson said the company believes in doing business with ethics. "These are baseless allegations against us to malign our reputation. We strongly refute such irresponsible comments on us," VIL spokesperson said. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi against the new farm laws enacted in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

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(With agency inputs)